Notes on OED's September 2007 release of new words

attrit v.

When OED editors began researching the use of this word in military contexts with the meaning "to weaken or wear down by means of an unrelenting military offensive" (attested from the period of the First World War), they also discovered an older (and now rare) sense attested from the 18th century: "to rub, abrade, or grind". This is just one example of how work on new words often illuminates historical usage, as well as recent developments.

chaise lounge n.

Words borrowed into English from other languages are sometimes reanalysed to fit more comfortably within the "rules" of English grammar. In the French term chaise longue (see the OED entry chaise longue n.), longue (= long) is an adjective modifying the noun chaise (= chair). Postmodifying adjectives are now rare in English, and in chaise lounge, longue has been reinterpreted as the English noun lounge, which not only resembles the French word, but also has logical associations with a piece of furniture meant for reclining.

entheogen n.

This word, used to refer to a psychoactive substance employed for spiritual purposes, has an ancient Greek etymon, but is only attested from 1977. The word was apparently coined as an alternative to the words hallucinogen n. and psychedelic n., which were strongly associated with recreational drug use. Notably, those words also have classical etymons (from Latin and Greek, respectively) but are attested only from the mid-20th century. While classical etymologies are now relatively rare in neologisms in the general vocabulary, they continue to be common in terms arising in scientific and medical circles.

puh-leeze adv. and int.

Respelling is often used to convey qualities, such as emphasis or accent, which are easily distinguished in speech but difficult to express in written form. In this case, the respelling of please to indicate an emphatic or sarcastic pronunciation has become sufficiently well established to warrant inclusion in the OED as a separate entry.